Check out our top picks for this year's feast

Nov. 5, 2013

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Anna Maria's Italian Restaurant, Larchmont. An additional Thanksgiving menu is a la carte, entrees around $18 available from 1 to 8 p.m. Chef Anna Maria Santorelli prepares home-style Italian cooking and hearty portions will certainly yield leftovers to bring home. A celebratory cocktail, 'The Italian Kiss,' is made with Italian wild strawberry liqueur and topped with chilled sparkling wine. Four courses start with antipasti like ricotta-filled mushroom caps and spaghetti squash pomodoro, followed by a round of pasta, including butternut squash ravioli with brown butter sage sauce. The 'Gobble Gobble dinner' comes with all the usual fixings, but we also like the Autumn Chicken, which is free-range chicken breast sautéed with chopped apples, Brussels sprouts, walnuts and cranberries, served with farro. 18 Chatsworth Ave., 914-833-0555, www.annamariasrestaurant.com . / Tania Savayan/The Journal News

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For some people, there’s only one thing they need to make on Thanksgiving: reservations.

Here are some of our favorite places to dine out for Thanksgiving this year.

North Street Tavern & Wood Fired Pizza, White Plains. $39.95 per person, $19.95 children, for three-course meal available for two seatings at 3:30 and 6 p.m. First course is pumpkin cream soup with crab meat, followed by a choice of beet and goat cheese watercress salad or Fairway salad, with mixed greens, candied walnuts, cranberries, apples and gorgonzola. Main course selections include a traditional turkey dinner with sautéed asparagus, home style mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce or a rib eye bone-in steak, which is served with garlic potatoes and Portobello mushroom sauce. Classic desserts cap the meal: homemade apple pie and pecan pie. 1128 North St., 914-437-7111. Search Facebook for its page.

City Limits Diner, White Plains. Special a la carte menu available from 1 to 7 p.m. Highlights include seasonal dishes like butternut squash soup with shrimp and salted cod or a quinoa and kale salad with sweet potatoes, apples and cider vinaigrette. Slow-roasted turkey is served with cornbread-sausage stuffing and giblet gravy, or go nontraditional with entrees like pan-roasted salmon, spiced duck breast or Port-ginger braised beef short ribs. Breakfast will also be served from 7:30 a.m. to noon. 200 Central Ave., 914-686-9000,www.citylimitsdiner.com

La Panetière, Rye. $72 per person, or $112 with wine pairing, children $35. Three-course dinner served from noon to 8 p.m. The elegant French take on Thanksgiving is full of harvest flavors, like Emmenthal cheese souffle with chestnut cracklings and butternut squash coulis. Traditional roasted turkey breast is served with cranberry marmalade, cipollini onions and sweet potato gratin, or try the venison saddle, made with poivrade sauce, rosemary-scented puree of Granny Smith apple and braised red cabbage. 530 Milton Road, Rye. 914-967-8140, www.lapanetiere.com.

Crabtree’s Kittle House, Chappaqua. $65 per person. Reservations from noon to 7:30 p.m.. This is a place that knows how to do a special occasion meal. Appetizers include J. Glebocki Farms pumpkin-pear soup, terrine of Hudson Valley duck confit and a house-smoked Wester Ross Island Scottish salmon with yukon gold blini and meyer lemon crème fraïche. For an entree, select from roasted John Boy’s Mountain View Farm heritage turkey, seared diver sea scallops, pan-roasted Chatham cod, Highland Farms venison osso bucco or filet mignon. Main course sides like whipped mashed potatoes and creamed pearl onions are served family-style. The dessert menu is presents an equally challenging choice, but we like the Kittle House pecan pie, served with caramel sauce and chantilly cream. 11 Kittle Road, 914-666-8044, www.kittlehouse.com.

Maud’s Tavern, Hastings-on-Hudson. Looking for a more casual Thanksgiving? Maud’s is a kid-friendly, homey pub offering a special holiday menu a la carte. Appetizers are all about $8, like warm brie cheese with apples and almonds, baked crab stuffed mushrooms and butternut squash ravioli with Parmesan sauce. Entrees range from $15 to $25 and include traditional stuffed turkey dinner, roasted Cornish game hen with mashed sweet potatoes and sun-dried cranberry sauce, grilled salmon over roasted autumn vegetables and roasted Long Island duck with orange cranberry sauce. 149 Southside Ave., 914-478-2326,www.maudstavern.com.

Zuppa, Yonkers. Thanksgiving, Italian-style. Reservations from noon to 7 p.m. The a la carte menu features traditional dishes but with a fun twist, like butternut squash soup with a hearty dollop of ricotta, pan-fried Brussels sprouts in prosciutto lardo, and pizza with squash spread, mascarpone, pancetta and rucola petals. Main course dishes are all about $25: braised turkey osso buco with pumpkin mashed potato and orange gremolata; crown maple syrup glazed wild salmon with kale, quinoa and sausage stuffing; and fresh ravioli filled with pumpkin and mascarpone, tossed with cranberry toasted breadcrumb and sage burroso. Zuppa is also taking pick-up orders for Tacchino Frito, or a Southern-style deep fried turkey. All orders must be placed by Nov. 26 and paid in full, $10 per pound. 59-61 Main St., 914-376-6500, www.zupparestaurant.com.

X2O Xaviars on the Hudson, Yonkers. $65 per person for the three-course prix fixe menu, available from 1 to 7 p.m. True to Peter X. Kelly form, the Thanksgiving menu is full of elegant details, like a crispy Parmesan cookie with green onion risotto and shaved black truffle, and house made whipped ricotta, pistachio oil and candied pecans on an heirloom beet salad. Turkeys are local, and roasted with apple-chestnut stuffing. Other dinner options include juniper- and ginger-crusted venison, braised beef short ribs and roasted Hudson Valley duck with olives. 71 Water Grant St., 914-965-1111, www.xaviars.com.

Anna Maria’s Italian Restaurant, Larchmont. An additional Thanksgiving menu is a la carte, entrees around $18 available from 1 to 8 p.m. Chef Anna Maria Santorelli prepares home-style Italian cooking and hearty portions will certainly yield leftovers to bring home. A celebratory cocktail, “The Italian Kiss,” is made with Italian wild strawberry liqueur and topped with chilled sparkling wine. Four courses start with antipasti like ricotta-filled mushroom caps and spaghetti squash pomodoro, followed by a round of pasta, including butternut squash ravioli with brown butter sage sauce. The “Gobble Gobble dinner” comes with all the usual fixings, but we also like the Autumn Chicken, which is free-range chicken breast sautéed with chopped apples, Brussels sprouts, walnuts and cranberries, served with farro. 18 Chatsworth Ave., 914-833-0555,www.annamariasrestaurant.com.

Farmhouse at Bedford Post Inn, Bedford. $90 per person for four courses, $45 for children, is served from 2 to 8 p.m.. The restored farmhouse is lovely and refined, the perfect setting for a memorable Thanksgiving meal. And the menu promises to be just that, with wild mushroom minestra, wood-roasted vegetable antipasti served warm, and squash tortellini in pumpkin broth with amaretti crumbs. Main course dishes like smoked turkey and pan roasted Long Island fluke will be served with classic family-style sides: whipped potatoes, green bean casserole and chestnut stuffing. 954 Old Post Road. 914-234-7800, www.bedfordpostinn.com.

Thyme, Yorktown Heights. $48 per person, $24.95 for children. The four-course prix fixe menu is served 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and kicks off with a choice of appetizers like warming butternut squash soup with pumpkin seed oil and créme fraîche or oysters Rockefeller, served with spinach, Parmesan and cream. There will be a traditional roast turkey, as well as double-cut pork chops with sweet potato puree and sugar snap peas, scallop risotto and strip steak with mashed potatoes and spinach. Desserts are a classic New York cheesecake, apple pie a la mode, chocolate mousse or rice pudding du jour. 3605 Crompond Road, 914-788-8700,www.thymerestaurant.net.

Benjamin Steakhouse. Benjamin Steakhouse. $54.95 per person for three courses is served from 12 to 10 p.m. The 200-seat dining room with a massive stone fireplace is formal in a fun way, and the menu has all the Thanksgiving staples. Appetizer options include puree of pumpkin soup or organic mesclun greens with frisée, roasted beets, warm goat cheese and toasted walnuts. The main course is a home-style Thanksgiving meal, with turkey stuffing, roasted yams, potatoes au gratin and cranberry relish. And dessert is a holiday staple: pumpkin pie. 610 Hartsdale Ave., 914-428-6868,www.benjaminsteakhouse.com.

Xaviars at Piermont. $85 per person, three-courses. Reservations from 1 to 7 p.m. A lovely setting for a more formal sit-down Thanksgiving, a far cry from the kid’s table. Appetizers include Hudson Valley foie gras, Coach Farm goat cheese risotto with black truffle and yellowfin tuna tartare with miso-cured avocado. Thanksgiving dinner is made with organic, free-range Hudson Valley turkey, but for a non-traditional, special occasion meal try the pan-roasted wild sea bass with celeriac puree, sautéed savoy cabbage, chanterelle mushrooms and beurre noisette or juniper crusted rack of American lamb. Desserts include a classic carrot cake, as well as a sophisticated meyer lemon souffle with citrus crème anglaise and lemon sorbet. 506 Piermont Ave., Piermont, 845-359-7007,www.xaviars.com.

121 Restaurant, North Salem. $55 for adults, $25 for children. Two seatings: from noon to 3 p.m. and from 4 to 7 p.m. The menu at this comfortable country restaurant is served family-style, and includes roasted turkey breast and turkey confit leg and thigh, plus glazed ham and sides such as sweet potatoes, cornbread casserole, creamed winter greens and two kinds of stuffing: classic and jalapeño. There are after-dinner activities for kids and family-style communal tables are available. 2 Dingle Ridge Road, 914-669-0121, www.121restaurant.com.

Peter Pratt’s Inn, Yorktown. Served from 1 to 7 p.m. The a la carte menu choices begin at $25 and include turkey and classic sides like apple-sausage stuffing, roasted Brussels sprouts and creamed pearl onions. Still have room for dessert? Choices include pumpkin, apple and pecan pie. (The pecan pie recipe is from owner Jonathan Pratt's mother.) Or try some fresh-made pumpkin ice cream. 673 Croton Heights Road, 914-962-4090, www.prattsinn.com